


The Fire Smells like the Night that He Burnt to the Ground

by grimborks



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Also Davekat is the main ship but, Angst, Basically the whole gangs here, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Hopefully I get out regular updates, I have a plan for this I swear, I promise you I will not subject any of you to bad characterization of RoseMary, M/M, Multi, alot of self deprecation, also ages are kinda random in this, also trigger warning for mentions of abuse in the later chapters, but if you ship that read it how you want lmao, but that's where character development comes in folks, especially from sollux, ill put more warnings at the start of chapters, im kinda venting through these poor boys, like Kankri is like 30 but most of the other alpha trolls are like middle schoolers, more warnings for mentions of underage drinking, sollux and roxy is platonic only, some not so politically correct comments in the beggining, this is a bittersweet one lads, we all start somewhere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-18 01:22:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13089477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimborks/pseuds/grimborks
Summary: Karkat gets a job at ‘Shrubs and Grubs Summer Adventure Camp’ AKA G.A.S.S.A.C as a junior counselor on account of his cousin, Kankri. He thinks this summer can’t get any worse than it already is until he gets paired up with super emotionless, stoic, douchebag, Dave Strider. But maybe Dave is more than just a stoic face and a pair of shades.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhh a fic I've been working on since early this year but never really had the courage to put out?? I hope you enjoy.

Your name is KARKAT VANTAS and you are currently on a bus to probably one of the most godawful experiences of your life.

You hadn’t really _wanted_ this Summer job. You thought maybe you would spend this Summer being mildly productive, maybe catch up on some ‘lite’ reading, AKA reading several 600 paged romance novels. However, it wasn’t meant to be. Instead you were being carted off to ‘Grubs and Shrubs Summer Adventure Camp’ AKA G.A.S.S.A.C as a junior counselor and were about to spend your first summer vacation away from your comfortable home around 30 or so snotty nosed middle schoolers.

 See, it was all on account of your godawful cousin Kankri. Kankri was insufferable, talked too much and claimed to be ‘politically correct’ but really wasn’t. However, Kankri was senior counselor at G.A.S.S.A.C. You needed some job experience, at least before you left high school. You brushed your hand through your messy, unkept black hair, (it clearly needed redying as the ginger roots were coming through) and made a face of frustration at your reflection in your phone's camera. You had freckles that seemed to cover every inch of you and pimples dotted your face as it did for most 17 year olds. You had braces and bushy eyebrows and boring green eyes. You attempted to brush off these thoughts when you got a text.

 twinArmageddons has begun pestering carcinoGeneticist.

 TA: kk you would not beliieve what ii have to deal wiith riight now.

CG: IS IT REALLY SO IMPORTANT? IM KINDA BUSY FREAKING OUT ON MY OWN ACCORD HERE

TA: just the most iin2ufferable douchebag ii have 2een 2iince ii met you.

CG: HAHA VERY FUNNY. AS ALWAYS YOUR HUMOUR NEVER CEASES TO PASS THROUGH MY EARS WITHOUT PERFORMING SOLID LEVELS OF ENTERTAINMENT.

CG: BUT SERIOUSLY, HE MUST BE PRETTY GODAWFUL IF YOU THINK HE LOOKS WORSE THEN I DO.

TA: tell me about iit better yet he2 on the 2ame bu2 a2 me headed 2traiight for you.

CG: YOURE SHITTING ME

CG: WHO ELSE IS ON THE BUS?

TA: there2 thiis one giirl who keeps tryiing 2 talk 2 me.

TA: ii thiink her name2 roxy but you know ii hate iinteractiing wiith new people.

CG: NO OFFENSE ASSWIPE BUT DONT YOU THINK A SUMMER CAMP WAS A PRETTY TERRIBLE JOB CHOICE WITH YOUR APPARENT HATRED FOR ALL LIVING THINGS THAT HAVE THE BRAIN CAPACITY TO SPEAK TO YOU?

CG: YOU REALLY PULLED OUT A GREAT IDEA WITH THIS ONE

TA: not liike you can talk.

 You’re about to reply, but decided against it when the thought of being even more riled up by your best friend before you even get to the camp comes to mind. Sollux was usually an ass, but you didn’t need his sass right this second.

 You finally put your phone away, taking out a cheesy romance novel. You’re not exactly sure why you have such an affinity for the pathetic love stories and mostly easily repairable relationships, if the main characters would _just communicate_ , but found yourself digging your nose into a new one basically every week or two. This one was called Dirty Laundry, the title being deceiving when nothing about the story is dirty at all, unless you count Lance’s abuelas attitude. You can’t help but envy the characters romances, it was just so pure. It was a typical enemies to friends to lovers trope, if you will. The two main characters forming a deep connection over a period of time they are forced to spend together in closure. The two boys, despite their beforehand rivalry with one another, end up becoming good friends and even better partners and you might’ve needed to wipe a tear if you got too emotional explaining the plot. Even if Lance’s grandmother was homophobic, that didn’t stop him and Keith happily dating in the end. Damn this was just such a good, emotional book. Also incredibly gay, which you consider yourself to be.

 The bus finally comes to a stop outside G.A.S.S.A.C and you, having been alone on the bus, thank the driver and are left standing outside the summer camp's gates. The camp is rather large, to your surprise, although you supposed you needn’t be so hooked up on the subject. From what you could see outside the gate, there were several buildings in the distance ranging in sizes. One stood tall in the centre, but close enough that if you squinted you could make out faint writing in the distance that labeled this building as the ‘main gym’. Other than that, you could only make out the form of buildings as they were too far away to take guesses on what their purposes were. You pull out your phone to check the connection and are disappointed to find only a weak wifi symbol which is password protected.

 “Karkat!”

 You could spot Kankri from a mile away. Mildly orange hair alike your own (if you hadn’t dyed it black to avoid teasing from your peers) that had faded into a fainter ginger with age. You almost raised an eyebrow at this, as you were sure the man was only about 30 years old. Also a candy red sweater that the guy seemed to _never_ take off. You faintly remembered Kankri showing the sweater off proudly on a christmas, bragging about how he could never be cold when such a good friend had made such a lovely sweater. Whoever this ‘good friend’ whom Kankri was referring to was, you really didn’t know. Kankri did a jog over to you and gave you a friendly smile.

 “Karkat! Hello. It’s so good to see you.”

 You grimaced, looking up at your older cousin (who was only just taller than yourself, as both of you were incredibly short) and gave him a weak wave. “Hey Kankri.”

 “Brilliant, now we’re just waiting for the others to get here and I can begin showing you the ropes on being a junior counselor!”

You give him a confused look, your eyebrows bearing down in passive anger at not being informed on this information. You fiddle with your bags nervously. Glancing behind yourself, as though a group of people would magically appear if you were to look around for them. “Others?” You hadn't known about any other people that were going to be attending as workers, unless you counted Sollux.

 Kankri shook his head. “Where are my manners, of course I should've given you a heads up. #TW: Abrupt change, #TW: No manners. You won’t be the only junior counselor, Karkat."

 “Oh”. You can’t help but say the sentence with slight aggression. Did Kankri really think you were that dumb? “Right of course.” You would be lying if you didn’t say you were thankful anyway, then subconsciously berate yourself for even thinking you’d be the only one. As if Kankri actually thought you were competent enough to take on that many kids, especially with your history of a bad temper.

 If Kankri noticed your bad attitude, he hadn't commented. When it seemed Kankri was about to say something in reply, another bus was heard heading down the long gravely driveway in the distance, and you turned to see it quickly approaching the front gate. You tried not to stare too awkwardly as three girls made their ways out of the vehicle. One was short and round, and had almost offensively orange hair. She wore red glasses and had noticeably pointed canine teeth. Along with her was a taller girl, curvier with longer brunette hair, pinned back in a messy ponytail and eccentriating the blue dyed ends. She also wore glasses and a T-shirt with an obscure band you've never heard of. Finally was a girl who was the same height as the 2nd, with very short black hair, black lipstick and eccentric clothing. You avert your eyes from them, not wanting to be caught staring and takeing in their general looks.

 “Terezi, Vriska, Kanaya.” Kankri nodded to the trio and each waved politely.

 “Hey” You mumble. You hate coming off as an edgy teen, in every sense of the word, but you’re not really one for people. They’re usually bad communicators with bad music tastes and bad humour. Vriska, the girl in the band T-shirt, gives you a quick glance before whispering something to Terezi, who rolls her eyes - which you at this moment realize are completely blank - and smiles in your general direction.

 The girl with shorter hair, Kanaya, looked around helplessly at the group. “Is this all?” she almost sounded pleading.

 Kankri looked horrified. “Oh no! I have 4 more counsellors on their ways. Speaking of, they’re late. What a shame.” He quickly noted something down on a notepad he held in one hand, before snapping it closed and stowing it away in his pocket. “But we also have several counsellors situated around camp already! You’ll meet them soon enough, but they’re mainly here for their respective activities. You all of course will be handling the groups and will be paired off to take care of your own groups of kids.”

 “Wow, they couldn’t even make it on time?” Vriska had piped up, ignoring the last piece of information. Her voice could only be described as the kind that would become annoying after awhile, something about the pitch and tone that insisted she was full of shit. You make a mental note of this.

 “Chill.” Terezi cut in. Her gaze was fixated on Vriska, as though she could actually see where the latter was. You wonder for a split moment if she could smell her.

 As if on cue, another bus rolls into earshot and you glance down at your phone on instinct and see there's a notification from Sollux informing you he’s ‘ba2iically here’.

 As the bus rolls up, 3 more students step off. You immediately spy  Sollux and suppress the urge to let yourself dorkily smile. You haven’t seen your best friend since school ended about 2 weeks ago. That isn’t long, but you’ve started to feel deprived of anything outside of your bedroom and seeing a familiar face and knowing it’s gonna be around for your remainder of time at this place is comforting. You hold back wanting to hug him, not wanting to make a fool of yourself and also knowing that Sollux was never one for personal affection. Instead, you give him a nod of acknowledgement and he does the same in response before lugging his suitcase (which is mysteriously full) and rather large daypack over to stand next to you, plopping the luggage down next to yours.

 Next to exit the bus is a girl. She looks fairly pretty but right now her face is contorted in disgust at trying (and failing) to get her massive bag out of the bus door. You wonder how she even got it in there in the first place, as she pulls on it relentless while the bus driver yells obscenities.

 “Yeah, yeah hold ya yankin’ horses!” she complains, before giving her luggage one last pull and tumbling out of the bus, along with her belongings, rather comically onto the ground.

 Kanaya rushes forward to help her off her feet and she gives the taller girl a shit eating grin and a wink. “Thanks darlin.” She says rather smoothly, much to Kanaya's embarrassed surprise.

 Last to hop off the bus is a kid, presumably the guy Sollux was talking about over text. You finally get what he means, seeing this kid in person.

 He has tanner skin, with blonde hair that has been clearly bleached a platinum. He wears a baseball tee with red lining and some black skinny jeans. Around his neck is a pair of cheap headphones that look like they’d been bought from Walmart and finally, the fucking cherry on top of this shitty ass cake, he wore fucking aviator shades.

 You almost decided you hate this kid until you notice he’s only carrying a single daypack with him.

 Then you don’t know what to think.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat
> 
> TW: for mentions of underage drinking (they're really subtle mentions, but they're still there so I thought I should say)

Kankri greets the 3, scribbling in his notebook but otherwise giving the group his undivided attention. You kind of lose him through half the conversation. He uses big, overcompensating words and you find that your mind has drifted elsewhere until Sollux elbows you. Hard.

“Ah fuck!” you whisper in pain, clutching your side. You shoot Sollux a glare and Sollux raises his middle finger at you.

“Is there a problem back there you two?” Kankri questions. You look up to see everyone staring at you, each holding a smirk. Except for shades kid. He is completely deadpan.

“We’re fine.” Sollux grumbles. Kankri gives you an unconvinced look. You’re still holding your side.

“Anyway,” Kankri finally continues, shooting you both a warning glare. “This is an important part so I want you all to listen. I’m going to be grading your behaviour throughout this camp in order to give you all convincing references on your CV’s once the summer is over. So I want you to convince me of the teamwork and redeeming qualities I know you are all capable of.” He pauses, making sure to eye each one of us specifically. “To make this more fun, I’ve decided to put you in pairs which will also be your cabin groups. Each pair will be taking care of a group of kids and each pair will be competing for the grand camp counselor prize.”

Everyone perks up at a mention of a prize, including you.

“Prize? What’s the prize?” Vriska asks, almost threateningly.

“That, you will find out when it has been won.”

Vriska rolls her eyes and mutters a ‘lame’ under her breath, but you see the excitement behind her pursed lips. You can already tell she’s gonna be tough competition. Sollux and yourself better watch out.

You and Sollux share a look, almost decidedly and once you’ve scooted yourself just a bit closer to your friend, you’ve noticed others have done the same.

Kankri notices this and blows a whistle rather loudly, startling the group.

“Must I repeat myself?” he writes yet another thing down before continuing. “It seems Kanaya was the only one who listened to me, so Kanaya if you will?”

The girl in question looked rather embarrassed before answering. “Uh.. Kankri says that _he_ will be choosing the partners.”

An audible groan erupts from the group, and Kankri shakes his head, disappointed. “You’re all 17, 18 years old.” He says this without looking up from his notebook, mindlessly doodling on the pages. “You need to learn to grow up and be in a partnership with someone you may not particularly like or know.”

Vriska nods in agreement, as if she wasn’t one of the people groaning beforehand. “Shame on all of you, really,” she says with a passing smirk.

You suppress the urge to roll your eyes at her obvious suck-uppery and listen closely as Kankri calls out names.

“Ok in cabin section 1 we have Vriska and Kanaya in cabin A, Terezi and Nepeta in cabin B, and Rose and Aradia in cabin C.”

Vriska and Kanaya share a disgusted look, before Kanaya picks up her belongings and shuffles over to Vriska begrudgingly.

“Wait, who is Nepeta?” Terezi asks. Kankri looks surprised for a moment. “Oh my! I completely forgot, mistake on my part.” He looks down to his notebook, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he scribbles probably more useless information down. You almost assume he’s knocking points off his own list.

“There are some other camp attendees who have been coming here for the Summer for several years, especially throughout their middle schooling. However, when they got too old to attend as campers they begun attending as counselors! Pretty much all of them are about your ages, give or take a few years so hopefully you should all get along nicely.”

Kankri makes a few more explanations, mostly talking about the location of different cabins before he reads out your name.

“Cabin section 4 is Roxy and Sollux in cabin A, Feferi and Tavros in cabin B, Eridan and Equius in cabin C and finally Karkat and Dave in cabin D.”

Sollux shoots you a pleading look as the girl with a bag full enough to rival Sollux’s jumps in next to him.

You wink at him and if looks could kill, he gives you a glare to slay thousands.

Your smirk is wiped away when you turn to look at your partner.

It’s shades douche.

You raise your hand, and Kankri calls on you.

“Yes Karkat?”

“Are we allowed to switch partners?”

 

* * *

 

After you get the fucking longest rant about ‘respecting others and their feelings’ of your life, you’re finally allowed to leave to your cabin. The rest of the group is long gone and you’re pissed because now you have less time to set up your shit before dinner after which you’re going to be getting a tour of the camp.

You finally come to cabin section 4 and hesitate in front of the door of the cabin. There’s a huge letter ‘D’ on the door and you can see faint marks from where, you assume some middle schoolers had written ‘ick’ next to it. You roll your eyes and barge right in without knocking.

“Woah man!” Dave spins around, he’s holding a plushie of a crow and when he sees you he quickly stows it away back in his daypack.

You pay it no mind, and instead take to looking around the cabin. It’s fairly small, but just big enough to accommodate 2 people. There's a bed on each side, and in the middle underneath a rather large window is a huge dresser. To the opposite side of this is a long, wooden desk that reaches all the way across the back wall and above that is a window to match the one across from it. You see Dave had claimed the bed furthest from the door and silently curse him for taking the spot you would’ve claimed otherwise. You take to instead setting your duffle bag on the ground with a rather loud thump and basically ripping it open, bringing out your belongings to put away. You open the top draw to put away your clothing, only to see Dave has already claimed the top two. You shoot him a glare and he shrugs

“You’re shorter than me anyway dude, It’s only fair you get the two closer to the ground.”

“I’m not even that short, I’m average height, dickwitt.”

Dave's face is as deadpan as ever. “5’5 isn’t ‘average height’ dude, it’s tiny.”

You suppress the urge to throw an insult at him, instead deciding to turn back around and stow your clothes away in the bottom two drawers instead.

You can feel Dave’s eyes boring into your fucking skull.

You whip around, giving him the biggest glare you can muster. “Can I help you?”

Dave chokes on the air when you turn, you probably surprised the guy. You feel your defenses go down just a little.

He brushes off the surprise as if it was never there to begin with. “Ah yeah.. Just thought I should introduce myself, considering we’ll be spending all this time together..”

He holds out his hand for you to shake. You’re still crouching down so instead of taking his hand, you pick yourself off the ground and brush yourself off while he retracts his hand awkwardly.

“Uh..” With nowhere to put it, his hand comes up to scratch the back of his neck. “I’m Dave..Stroodle. Strider! Fuck, I’m Dave Strider-”

You cut him off before he can continue. “Karkat Vantas.”

He gives you an odd look. “So are you like, Kankri's son or?”

“His cousin.” You explain, halfheartedly. You’ve already turned away to continue unpacking.

“Oh. Right.”

Once you’ve finished, you turn back around to see Dave rolling the plushie over in his hands, almost in a calming rhythm. Your heart clenches at how rude you were being before.

“Dave?” you try to make your voice sound as soft as possible and you think it works because Dave physically relaxes before shoving the crow back in his bag.

He turns back around, his cool kid demeanor back. “Oh! Right, sorry Karkit-”

Your heart returns to normal. You’re pissed again. You grit your teeth and correct him. “It’s Karkat.”

“Right.” He chuckles, his lips curving up into a smirk. “Gotcha, Kitkat.” Now you know he’s just fucking with you.

You don’t really like anyone calling you nicknames unless they know you well, the only people you allow to call you any odd variation of your name being Sollux, who calls you KK. You shoot Dave one last glare before starting to set up your bed. There are sheets, duvets and pillows provided by the camp but you grimace when you see a strange stain on your sheet and thank nicolas cage you packed your own. You hear a thump behind you and turn your head slightly to see that Dave has slumped down onto his own bed, with no personal belongings added to it.

He has his phone out, raised above his face and you see his thumbs flying at the keyboard. You roll your eyes before straightening out your sheets when you hear a rather loud groan from Dave.

“What is it now, Strider?”

“There’s no fucking signal at this camp.”

You grip your sheets, suppressing frustration. “Of course there isn’t, this is an adventure camp you ass stick.”

“So? Doesn’t mean we should be deprived of a good wifi connection. It’s like, the motherfucking French revolution up in here. Viva la Strider wants some fucking wifi. If this camp and all the other camps with wifi connections were bars, then this would be the shitty bar that only allows over 18 year olds to get in but they don’t check ID’s so they let the guy in front of you who’s actually just 6 weasels in a trenchcoat in, and the line is super fucking long so you’re waiting outside in the freezing cold on a Saturday night just wanting to get in and party but when you finally get to the front the guy decides to actually check and your fake ID is super shitty cause your buddy Greg from downtown made it and he can't craft shit so you just get this angry guy telling you to gtfo and then your friends are let through all because you have a baby face. But then, after you go home they text you talking about how bad it was anyway and how it totally wasn't worth it and now you’re pissed cause you didn’t get to see lil Jimmy puke up all the alcohol he wasn't actually supposed to drink and the weasels trash the whole place-”

“Dave.” You interrupt him. You’re really hoping these long ramblings aren’t often. “I get it, it’s a shitty camp. Why are you even here if it’s so bad?”

He looks a little taken aback, or he would probably if you could see his eyes. “Ah.. You know just.. Wanna get a job for the summer.”

He’s a terrible liar and you both know it, but you don’t comment. You could really care less anyway.

 

* * *

 

You’ve finished unpacking your belongings and are sitting on your bed, reading one of your romance novels you packed when you feel breath next to your ear. You practically war screech before jumping away, panicked, looking to see what it was, only to redden at your reaction to see Strider pissing himself laughing on the floor.

“Oh is my pain funny to you, Strider?” you spit. He just keeps laughing and you ‘hmph’ in response.

“Dude.. You..” He’s catching his breath now, still clutching his sides and wiping away tears from under his shades. “You fucking.. What was that _noise_?”

You feel your face heat up in embarrassment. “You startled me!”

He’s still laughing hard and you feel yourself growing more annoyed, but also a part of you is slightly amused at the situation. Not that you'd admit it though.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” he says but he’s still giggling like a schoolgirl and you find it hard to believe him. He takes another deep breath before pointing to your book. “What are you reading?”

You look down at the novel and if your face hadn’t reached a maximum level of red to match your hair roots, it certainly did now. “None of your business!” you know you sounded way too defensive, but you would rather he didn’t know due to fear of teasing for your taste in books.

Your made to eat your words though, because Dave visibly perks up when he sees your book.

“‘The Clayborne Brides’? That’s Julie Garwood, right?” You must’ve looked surprised, because he stutters awkwardly before adding “Ah- my mom used to read those. I mean, she probably still does.. What? No it’s not like I wouldn’t know uhh fuck..” He shakes his head and gives you a lopsided smile. “Ah shit so you like romance novels?” his voice cracks on the last word and you can’t help but snicker slightly.

You see a blush creep up his neck and you raise an eyebrow. “What’s wrong, Strider? Embarrassed I know you know about Julie Garwood?” his mouth drops a bit, he’s clearly surprised at your snarky comment. You continue anyway. “Yes, this is Julie Garwood. Her books are really good, regardless of the genre.” You hand him your book, having mentally bookmarked it. “Give it a read, you just might like it.”

 

He nods helplessly, taking the book and placing it beside himself on the floor.

 

A loud crash is heard outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was Chapter 2!! Please give me feedback on how I can improve!
> 
> Also, Dave Strider is so awkward and no one can convince me otherwise.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sollux

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHAH. Another perspective! As I've been writing this story, I get more ideas for it and I have decided that although DaveKat will take up the main portion of this fic, I will have some side characters with their own perspective and storylines! Here's the beginning of Sollux's!   
> Some warnings for this chapter is that 1; Any opinions made in this chapter are not my own opinions. Solluxs character at this point in the story is putting it simple, an asshole. He doesn't truly understand what he's thinking and saying to people and throughout the story we will see him grow and change and become a better person I promise.  
> 2; The derogatory terms in this chapter will mostly be ableist (because Vriska is terrible) But as mentioned before all these characters will get better soon, and we all start somewhere right?

Once Kankri had called out your name, you had been disappointed to find you weren’t paired up with Karkat. You would never admit that, of course, you’re much too prideful to even think of doing so, but something you could admit is you didn’t normally like people, and now you were paired up with some random girl you didn’t even know.

Speaking of the devil, the girl in question bounds towards you with a massive bundle of belongings in tow. You give Karkat a look, one that you yourself would describe as a cry for help but when he just winks at you in response you resist the urge to punch that smug look off his face and instead flip him the bird.

You needn’t be distressed for long however, because you have to stifle a bark of laughter crawling it’s way up your throat when you see that Karkat had been paired up with the guy with douchebag sunglasses, what was his name?… Dave?

You turn back to Roxy who has been poking you insistently. Luckily for you, you have a brother and have no problem dealing with sudden pokes and proddings.

You calmly turn to face the culprit and she looks rather pleased to have grabbed your attention. “Hiya! I’m Rox-”

“Roxy, I know.” You can’t help but sound slightly bitter as she introduces herself. She raises an eyebrow at your attitude, but quickly brushes it off. “Looks like we’ll be rooming!” she giggles and you find the noise to be unpleasant. It’s not you particularly dislike her or her laugh, you just hate people in general.

“Yay” you say, although your voice is passive and shows no real emotion or excitement. Roxy pouts slightly, before turning her direction back to Kankri. You figure you might as well listen too.

“-So I want you to get to know your partners and create bonds with them, as this is a useful skill in the work environment.” Everyone nods along, clearly bored at the rambling.

Kankri does some more pointless talking, and once he’s done he points each group to their section. You notice Karkat being pulled aside, Kankri wanting to have a ‘talk’ with him. You snicker into the palm of your hand and lug your shit toward cabin section 4.

Roxy bounds in next to you, clearly insistent on becoming friends. “So what do you like to do for fun, Sollux?”

You roll your eyes, y’know like an asshole, but answer her question regardless. “I like computers. I like making codes and hacking.”

Roxy’s eyes light up. “Dude! I fucking love hacking! You could just call me Hackerman extraordinaire cause I’m so good at it.”

You give her an unconvinced look. “Really? I doubt that.”

She puffs up in defense. “I’m serious! I even have all my computer shit in my bag!” she pats her luggage for emphasis. You’re done talking at this point but she continues. “You know I’m not usually one for outdoors, but I came to this camp cause my girlfriends are here plus I love kids!” you’re not listening anymore but she pays no mind. “My girlfriend Janey works in the kitchens here and my other girlfriend Callie helps out in the arts block!”

You assume she continues rambling but you’re still paying no mind, instead focusing attention on some people waiting by your cabins. You turn to see Dave, hands in his pockets scanning the area you’re all in and notice he looks incredibly awkward without someone by his side.

As you get closer you can see the people hanging outside your cabins, and study them carefully. One guy is leaning against a wall, casually flirting with another girl. The guy has blonde hair slicked back with a purple streak and you instantly hate him. He wears baggy douchebag pants and has a scarf wrapped around his neck despite it being summer. The girl doesn't look too impressed either. She has tanner skin, and bushy dark brown hair and she wears what you recognize as traditional Indian jewelry on her head. Further to the side of those two is a boy with dark mohawk, but it kinda looks less threatening based on the boys obvious meek personality. He’s in a wheelchair, and you can only imagine how annoying that’s gonna get for him at a summer camp. Still, in your mind you cheer him on for being a trooper. Beside him is another guy who looks like he’s sweating heavily and it’s kinda gross. He also has darker hair but it’s longer and swept back into a ponytail. He’s very clearly sunburnt, even though you’re sure he couldn’t of been out in the sun very long.

Roxy leans over to you as you approach the group and whispers rather obviously into your ear. “Bet you $5 sweaty guy has some weird kink.”

You swat her away not wanting to hear or even think of that, cause the thought honestly makes you a lil sick. Scarf guy sees your group and turns to you all with open arms. The girl looks glad that he’s no longer paying attention to her.

“Hello! I am Eridan Ampora and I welcome you to-” he has a mild stutter over ‘welcome’ but you don’t really care anyway. His voice is annoying and wavy, as though he can’t stick to a certain pitch.

You push past him and flip him the bird for good measure. He lets out an offended gasp and watches you, shocked as you walk into your room.

You hear commotion outside but don’t care, instead pulling out your phone to play animal crossing.

Finally, about 10 minutes later you hear the door creak open and Roxy rushes in, throwing her bag onto the vacant bed and shoving the door shut behind herself. You hear a distant ‘weh’ but you’re so caught up in your game you pay it no mind.

Roxy speaks again. “So that Eridan guy.” When you don’t reply she continues. “He’s a charmer.” She says sarcastically. “He tried flirting with me, in front of the other girl he was just mackin’ on too!”

You really couldn’t care less about who scarfboy macks on, instead continuing your game.

You hear Roxy groan in annoyance, most likely at your lack of speaking. She seems to have given up however because next you hear shuffling of what you assume is her putting away her belongings. When you hear the distinct sound of chords being unwrapped you finally lift your head.

She places a pink laptop atop the desk on the far side of the room, leaving plenty of space to the side. Just as you suspected. No genuine hacker could have such a pitiful setup. You instantly know she was bullshitting you earlier, probably trying to make you think she’s hot shit. It was like every other girl you meet. Incredulously boring and the same. Your point is proven more when she also places a makeup bag next to it, along with a wired mouse plugged into her pitiful excuse for a computer. She stands back, hands on hips, proudly admiring her work.

You can’t help but make a snarky comment. “ _ That’s  _ your setup?” she looks confused so you continue. “That’s the lamest setup I have ever seen in all 17 years of my life.”

To your surprise she smirks and raises her hands up in the air. “Ok Mr ‘too cool for summer camp and too cool for my pal Roxy’.” You roll your eyes at her terrible attempt. “If your setup is any better than mine, prove it.”

You raise an eyebrow. “I have a XPS 27 Cordial Mier.” You list this off as though it’s common knowledge, and based on her expression she doesn’t even know what that is. “It’s only the best PC on the market and certainly much better than your shitty off brand laptop.”

She glares at you, but there's a playful glint in her eyes that says she thinks otherwise. “Oh yeah? Okay hackerman, I challenge you to a hack-off.”

You turn your focus back to your game, already losing interest but still listening as you’re not one to back down from a challenge. “What’s in it for me? Other than proving to you how bad you are at hacking.”

Her eyes sparkle with something you just can’t place. “You win and I won’t talk to you for the rest of the Summer unless absolutely necessary.”  _ Now  _ you’ve turned back to her, clearly ready to take her offer. “If I win, you can’t use technology for the rest of the summer and have to socialize and talk to me and the other counsellors instead.”

You and her both stare at each other for a moment, mutually glaring.

“Alright RX, you have a deal.”

She sits back and watches as you setup your computer, which is as bulky and ridiculously big as you would’ve expected. It takes you about half an hour but once you’re done it looks pretty great and the small pink laptop next to it looks incredibly sad.

Roxy doesn’t take any mind to this though, instead choosing to giggle and mumble something like ‘overcompensating for something?’ she’s clearly confident that she’s going to win this challenge. You can’t help but pity her confidence, especially when you’re so clearly going to win yourself.

“Okay,” she says as you finalize a few things and then step back from your computer. “The challenge is to hack into the camps records and find out info on the other person.” You can’t help but reckon this is a total invasion of privacy, but you’re not too worried cause you’re sure Roxy wouldn’t even be able to begin coding before you’ve found her personal shit. “Whoever finds it first, wins.”

You nod along to what she’s saying and notice she has a playful smirk on her lips. No need to care however, you’ve got this in the bag.

She begins to count down slowly. Once she hits one, your fingers begin flying at the keyboard, as do hers. Wow okay, she’s faster at that than you thought. No need to panic, so she’s a fast typer? You’ve still GOT this.

2 minutes later she speaks. “You have a little brother?”

Your heart stops and you glance over at her computer. She has your files up and is reading through them. What the fuck. How the fuck??

She turns to you and grins. “Oh my god, your real name is Solluxander? That is fucking hilarious.” She giggles and snorts, almost falling out of her chair. “Dude who cursed you with a name like  _ Solluxander _ ?”

“What the FUCK??”

 

* * *

You stare helplessly as Roxy takes the cord from your computer and your phone charger, and stows it away in her duffel bag.

You’re still gaping in horror staring at her dingy pink laptop sitting atop the desk, towered over by your own bulky nightmare.

“How did you do it?” you whisper. She snorts.

“What? Did I  _ Rox  _ your socks off?” she giggles at her own lame joke and plops down on the floor, taking out hot pink nail polish. “It was easy, peasy! But a hacker never tells their secrets.” She winks at you while applying a thin coat to each perfect pedicured nail.

“We’re not fucking magicians.”

“Oh but I am.” She wiggles her eyebrows before turning back to her hand.

“I can’t believe I lost.”

“I can.”

You grumble something inaudible, but Roxy doesn’t care.

“So you have a brother? Mifinu, right?”

“His name is  _ Mituna _ ” you bark. “Yeah, Mituna’s my little brother.”

“He’s coming to this camp?”

Considering your circumstance, you tell her the truth.

“Yeah. He’s gonna be in our group. I made sure of that.”

“Aw! That’s so sweet, looking out for you little brother.”

You just nod. How are you supposed to tell her you’re the only one that understands him? His random outbursts, outrageous mood swings and all? He’s a spaz. People have made sure you know this. You don’t want their pity, though. You’re sick of seeing the looks people give you when he embarrasses you in public like they feel sorry for you. They wouldn’t understand. He’s a good kid and it’s not his fault. You swallow the lump in your throat at the thought of Roxy giving you the same look everyone else does. Oh well. To hell with her anyway. You don’t care what she thinks. He’s your little brother no matter what anyone says about him.

You can’t help but wonder why you had to have a freak for a little brother though.

A loud crash is heard outside.

Roxy almost drops her nail polish in surprise. “What the fuck was that?”

You both rush out of the room to see what the commotion is only to see Dave and Karkat have done the same. Ignoring them, you direct your attention to the noise.

Tavros is sprawled out on the ground, legs in tangled. His face is squished into the pavement and his wheelchair is tipped over, almost like he was a glass of milk that had been spilled.

Vriska stands over him, laughing. She looks up to see your glares. “Oh hey guys,” she coos. “What brings you to the party?” She steps over Tavros as though he is just a puddle, and approaches the rest of you.

“Vriska, what the fuck?” Karkat questions. You already know how this is gonna go. As much as Karkat will deny, he’s too empathetic for his own good. He’ll immediately get caught up in shit cause he couldn't just stand by and let someone be an asshole.

“What’s the matter, Karkitty? Got a lil crush on that lil baby over there?” she points to a rather sad looking Tavros.

You see Karkat flare up and already know where this is going. You debate on whether or not you should step in when Roxy speaks up. “Dude that’s not cool.”

You won’t lie, you’re surprised but keep quiet deciding to watch her suspiciously.

“Don’t tell me you pity him. I thought you were  _ cool _ , Rox.”

You see a passion in Roxy’s eyes like you’ve never seen in anyone except Karkat before.

“I don’t pity him.”

Vriska frowns at that. “Then why are you sticking your nose into my business?”

Roxy shrugs. “I don’t pity him. He doesn’t need my pity.” Tavros mumbles something about actually needing pity because he doesn’t have anything else going for him. “Actually Vriska? I pity you.”

Vriska physically stiffens. “Pity me? What is there to even pity?” 

“Clearly you have nothing better to do then push around other people who have more purpose than you do.” Roxy remains cool during this whole ordeal and you really have no idea how she pulls it off.

Vriska sputters, unsure of how to reply before she turns on her heel. “Whatever, you guys ruined the fun.” Just like that she was gone.

Roxy watches her leave before ushering the other girl from their cabin section (who you later find out is called Feferi) over to help Tavros back in his wheelchair.

You pay close attention to Roxy’s eyes and see there is no pity in them. She doesn’t look sorry for the boy, and if she did it would be more the fact that someone pushed him and not  _ why  _ they did it.

You decide that this Summer may not be so bad with Roxy around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think of the different perspectives? Please let me know!

**Author's Note:**

> Please give me feedback! I'd love to see your opinions on this story!


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